Suspensions, criminal charges coming for city hall protesters

Mayor Denis Coderre is calling last week's city hall protest by municipal workers unacceptable and an affront to democracy.

He met the media Friday afternoon to announce that 63 municipal employees are currently under investigation by the city for their roles in the protest, and that 39 of them were immediately suspended without pay.

All but 11 of them are firefighters who took part in the Aug. 18 protest which disrupted a city council meeting.

A group of more than 200 workers stormed the council chambers that evening, threw papers around, set off smoke bombs, splashed water on computers, and chased Mayor Denis Coderre from room to room until he barricaded himself in his office.

But even as he announced the sanctions against those workers, the mayor made a point of praising the work they do overall.

"What happened that day is unacceptable," said Coderre. "I want to appeal to the city workers, police and firefighters. I trust that you're part of the solution, you do impeccable work and if some individuals went too far that’s their own problem and I won't generalize. You have taken an oath to protect and to serve. The safety of the population needs to be total."

Earlier Friday, police chief Marc Parent announced that 44 city workers are facing criminal charges as a result of the protest — charges which include assault, illegal assembly, and mischief. In addition, a dozen police officers who essentially stood by while the protest took place have been spoken to, and could face discipline.

Parent adds the criminal investigation into the incident is not over, and he hints there could be more charges to come.

Municipal workers have been staging protests throughout the summer against Bill 3, the Quebec government's proposed pension reform legislation.

Seriously, those spoiled over payed employees are getting off easy. It's long over due, welcome to the real working class of working for a living. They think they are the only ones, where I work back in 2007 they decided to change the pension rules so basically our pensions are reduced if we decided to leave before the age of 55, 60, or 65. I have yet to catch up 14 years later to what my estimated pension would be when I retire. They said your don't have 25 years service, I am short by 24 hrs. Yes 1 day. Their response no exceptions. And yes we have been contributing into our pensions from the age of 25. So please would these employees like some cheese with their whining? Oh btw NO our pensions will not be indexed. As soon as our government pension kicks in at 65 or 67 for some, our employees pensions will be reduced. Another joke in reference to pensions, the government estimates that they will run out of pensions for the future young, but refuse to let people contribute more than 18% of their salary. If you contribute more than 18% once you are penalized and half to pay interest. So basically the government refuses to let us help ourselves by letting us contribute more into our pensions before we get there. How lame is that?